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this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I'm an ultra-noob, so those who know more please correct me.
I'm playing with Linux VMs and recently I installed Debian to check it out. When it asked what DE I wanted, I chose all of them :).
The only hard conflict (AFAIK) is the [compontent / feature responsible for loging in] (I don't know the technical term). Because each DE comes with a different one, you need to choose one.
What I found very confusing in practice is that I could see some DE apps and configuration settings from other DEs. So, unless you know what belongs to what, it's a bit of a mess (in my VERY limited experience).
Destop Manager (DM).
There a couple of them. Gnome has it's preferred, I'd risk KDE has its own (was never a user of KDE), there is LightDM, etc.
And they tend to dislike eachother
LightDM says it's a Display Manager.
I know that naming is hard but, oh my..., terms are so confusing when you're starting:
... I'm still not sure which ones are synonyms, sub categories or independent components :/.
Always messed those up but I'm not ashamed.
I've used Linux for about a decade and I still mix them up sometimes if I'm not actively working with them
There are just too many terms, just give enough context and people will understand it regardless tho!
The program responsible for logging in and starting your window manager is called the display manager. Sddm is the default for KDE and GDM is the default for Gnome.
Technically, you don't even need a display manager as you could login and start the window manager manually directly from the TTY. That's just mainly useful for when you break something in your display manager config though.